She’s ready for it! Whoopi Goldberg revealed that she would be willing to take over Wheel of Fortune After Pat Sajak is stepping down as host next year.
“I want this job”, the sister act star, 67, said during the Tuesday, June 13 episode of View. “I think that would be a lot of fun.”
Cohost Joy Behar, for her part, backed Goldberg’s sentiment — and even joked that she might have her own role in the game show’s next chapter. “You know what? Sarah [Haines] and i could be Vanna White. We will take turns going back and forth!
Goldberg’s statement came just a day after Sajak, 76, revealed his tenure at Wheel of Fortune coming to an end.
“Well, now is the time,” the Daytime Emmy winner told Bloomberg News in a Monday, June 12 statement. “I have decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be our last. It was a wonderful ride, and I will have more to say in the months to come. Thank you to all of you.”
Before making his official announcement, Sajak hinted at his inevitable exit during a September 2022 interview with entertainment tonight. “It’s an honor to have been in people’s living rooms for so long.” People were there to welcome us. We are happy and proud,” he said at the time.
The Chicago native also joked that he “could go before the show” gets canceled. “On most TV shows in those days, you would have said, ‘That’s probably enough,’ but this show isn’t going to die,” he joked.
Wheel of Fortune created in 1975 with chuck wool as a host. Sajak took the job six years later in 1981 and has run the popular daytime program ever since.
“When I started hosting Wheel (with Susan Stafford) on this date 40 years ago, the top 10 TV shows included dallasThree’s Company, The Jeffersons And The Dukes of Hazardhe tweeted about his more than four decades with the show in December 2021. “Ronald Reagan was in his 1st year as president. Song number 1: “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John.
After Sajak broke the news of her departure on Monday, her longtime co-host White, 66, took to social media to support her friend’s decision to leave the beloved TV series.
“When we started @WheelofFotune, who could have imagined we’d still be there 41 seasons later?” THE Vanna speaks the author wrote via Twitter, quoting Sajak’s original announcement tweet. “Couldn’t be happier to have shared the stage with you all these years with another to come. Kudos to you, @patsajak!
THE A team alum and White have formed a close bond over their nearly 40 years of screen sharing. “We’ve been together for about 38 years and he’s like my brother,” the Vanna’s Choice co-founder said. HEY in 2021. “He is funny. I mean, we could finish each other’s sentences if we wanted to. We know each other so well.
Sajak, for his part, opened up about his dynamic with White during a 2017 talk at the Paley Center for Media in New York City. “I can’t imagine being up there with anyone else,” he told the audience at the time.
Who will take over Sajak’s duties after he bids farewell is up in the air, but Ken Jennings – who took over hosting Jeopardy in November 2022 alongside Maim Bialik after the death of longtime emcee Alec Trebek – joked during Monday’s episode of View that he hopes Wheel of Fortune passes the torch more easily than his own game show.
“Pat is a legend. I mean, over 40 years and the price of a vowel hasn’t gone up a penny. Like, nobody controlled inflation like Pat Sajak,” joked Jennings, 78. “I mean, Jeopardy had its own succession crisis. Hopefully, “Wheel” has an envelope showing what happens when Pat wraps it up. »
Although no successor has been officially named, reports have surfaced that Ryan Seacrest is in talks to take Sajak’s place. “Some sources say he’s the frontrunner. Others say he’s just one of many interested,” Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw tweeted on Monday.